VERONICA ROTH, THEN 21 and a senior
at Northwestern University, was standing
next to the trash bin in her apartment building when her literary agent told her news that
would change her life. Not only did the editors at HarperCollins want to publish her first
novel, but they liked it so much that they were
making a preemptive offer—that is, an offer
too good to refuse.

Three years later, Roth is mentioned in
the same breath as J.K. Rowling, Stephenie
Meyer and, most of all, Suzanne Collins. Like
Collins’ The Hunger Games, Roth’s Divergent
trilogy is classified as “dystopian” because it is
set in a future that is grim. Roth’s first two
books, Divergent and Insurgent, both occupied the No. 1 position on the New York
Times best-seller list and together have sold
more than 4 million copies. A movie adaptation of Divergent, starring Shailene Woodley
(the older daughter in the movie The
Descendants) and Theo James (Lady Mary’s
inconveniently dead lover in season one
of Downton Abbey), is scheduled for release
next March, and this month, on October 22,
the final novel in the trilogy, Allegiant, will go
on sale.

Roth, 25, who lives in Chicago with herhusband, the photographer Nelson Fitch, isstill reeling from the excitement. “It’s been alittle crazy,” says Roth, who has been writingstories since she was “too old for playing pre-tend.” Success, however, especially at her age,can be daunting. “The best aspect of it is hav-ing written something that connects me withso many readers, especially young readerswhom I love and careabout,” she says. Theworst aspect of successis the terrific pressureit creates: “the fear ofdisappointing peopleonce they start tobelieve in you,” sheexplains. “With eachsubsequent book,arts & entertainment

25-year-oldnoveliststares downmajor success

The Costco Connection
Veronica Roth’s Allegiant will be available in
most Costco warehouses on October 22.

is the terrific pressure“you worry, ‘Oh no, are they going to hate thisone? Will I let them down?’ You feel this inter-nal pressure not to disappoint people.”For those who have missed out on theDivergent trilogy craze, the stories take placein a futuristic Chicago in which people arestratified into five groups: Abnegation,Erudite, Candor, Amity and Dauntless. At 16,Beatrice (nickname: Tris), the plucky heroine,must make a choice: Should she remain inAbnegation, the group into which she wasborn and in which selflessness is the chief vir-tue, or should she join Dauntless, whosemembers view daring as the means to fightinjustice. Given Roth’s own real-life fears—“roller coasters, bugs of all kinds” and, morerecently, “being in front of an audience,” whichoccurs a lot lately—it isn’t surprising that shecreated a heroine whose choice demandsvalor. The ultimate lesson of Dauntless, bothin literature and in life, Roth says, “is not abouthaving no fear, but of trying not to let that feardetermine your behavior.”What is in the utopian future for thisdreamer of dystopian worlds? Roth’s plan is tovisit the set of the Divergent movie that is cur-rently in production—“I want to enjoy thatexperience to the fullest”—and take time to“recover from this crazy, awesome ride.” C